ORGANIZATION AND LOCATION OF THE DCI HISTORY STAFF

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP01-00569R000100060048-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 16, 2009
• Sequence Number: 48
• Publication Date: October 19, 1983
• Content Type: MEMO

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MEMORANDUM FOR: Charles A. Briggs
Executive Director
THROUGH Thomas B. Cormack
Executive Secretary
FROM J. Kenneth McDonald
Chief, History Staff
SUBJECT Organization and Location of the DCI History Staff
1. This is to explain why I am convinced that the History Staff must
remain independent and in the Office of the Director of Central
Intelligence.
2. Although last summer told me some of his ideas about 25X1
expanding the Center for the toy of Intelligence, including an Anschluss of
the History Staff, I have seen no written proposals. There are, however, two
questions involved in or any other proposals to change the DCI History 25X1
Staff's present organization or location. These are.
A. Whether to take the History Staff out of the Office of the DCI and
place it in one of the four directorates.
B Whether to consolidate the History Staff with other offices--e.g.
DDI's Historical Intelligence Collection, DCI's Academic Coordinator, or
DDA's Center for the Study of Intelligence and Studies in Intelligence.
3. In fact, the History Advisory Committee and top Agency management
considered both of these issues carefully in 1980 when they examined the
question of resurrecting a CIA History Staff. For clarity, I shall treat
each of these two questions separately.
4. Since General Walter Bedell Smith created it in 1951, the History
Staff has always been in the Office of the DCI, except for a sojourn in the
n;-.,..-n +o of fldminictratinn from mid-1973 to the end of 1979 . In DDA the
Hictnrv staff withered away from a staff of zs in iii to one n,s[,ur ari-, I LOA I
, non
in 1yio, ano on LU UA I,I II'. 1VI I U'. t.nc cnas 25X1
wen a History Staff was re-established, it returned to the Office of the
DCI, as the all-Agency History Advisory Committee, chaired by t had 25X1
h
recommended in its report to the DCI OT 15 July 1980 (Atta.. men
5. In explaining its recommendation that the Office of CIA Historian be
established "as an independent office under the Director of Central
Intelligence," Committee quoted generously from a 15 June 1980 study 25X1
(Attachment 2) prepare for them by the distinguished military historian, Dr.
Martin Blumenson, who served as consultant to the Agency and the Committee:
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"Certain characteristics of the Agency [Dr. Blumenson wrote], both
structural and procedural, militate against the establishment and
performance of an Historical Activity, and they should be clearly
recognized and hardly minimized. Among them are the decentralized nature
of the Agency's operational framework; the virtual independence of the
major components; compartmentation control; the extreme sensitivity of
much of the Agency's production; and the understandable reluctance,
particularly on the part of the Directorate of Operations, to record
actions and events."
6. To overcome these and other difficulties, Dr. Blumenson concluded
that the Agency's Historical Activity should be "organizationally located at
the top, as a separate entity directly under the Director." He found this
essential first, "to break down the compartmentation control;" and secondly,
"to indicate to the Agency that the Activity enjoys the fullest support and
confidence at the highest level."
7. On 25 August 1980, in approving Committee's 25X1
recommendations, the DCI wrote to the DDCI:
"Specifically, I think we should put the Historian in the Executive
Secretariat....On the one hand, I think we'll need that proximity to the
front office to attract a good Historian; on the other, it makes sense
for the Executive Secretary to feel responsible for keeping the Historian
posted on what is going on....I'd like to make the Historian an SIS
position up to SIS-4 (that's GS-18 I hope)".
8. The Chief Historian was established as an SIS position, and I
accepted the appointment on the assurance and the members of 25X1
the search committee that the History Staff was in the Office of the DCI, and
that I would report to the DDCI and DCI. I can now observe that the History
Staff's location with the Executive Secretary in the Office of the DCI has in
fact supported its independent role, by giving us the benefit of Tom
Cormack's counsel, as well as the important support of the Executive Registry
in getting access to the documentation we need.
9. My own two years' experience with the new History Staff, along with
the History Staff's previous history from 1951 to 1979, fully confirm the
wisdom of Dr. Blumenson, the History Advisory Committee, and top Agency
management in opting in 1980 for an independent History Staff in the Office
of the DCI. To write comprehensive and objective history, the History Staff
must not be identified with or subordinate to any one of the four
directorates, and it must have DCI-level access to documents and people
across compartmentation lines. Our experience last winter with the proposed
study of congressional relations demonstrates how even a topic accepted by
all four Deputy Directors and the Executive Director (acting as CIA's History
Advisory Board) still needs the imprimatur of the DDCI and DCI. As histories
are produced, we shall need the same levels of approval in the review of
manuscripts and for decisions on dissemination of the studies. In sum, the
History Staff can only do its job if it has, and can clearly be seen to have,
the full confidence and support of the DCI.
10. On the second question, there is little to recommend merging other
components with the History Staff if the History Staff's proper location is
in the Office of the DCI. Nevertheless, I should perhaps explain the
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implications for the History Staff of associating it with each of the offices
that have apparently been discussed as candidates for consolidation in CSI.
11. Historical Intelligence Collection. Since the principal role of
HIC's curator seems to be to maintain and build the collection, and to answer
reference questions, HIC seems well placed now in DDI's Office of Central
Reference organizationally, and adjacent to the CIA Library physically.
Although a case could be made for putting the Historical Intelligence
Collection under the History Staff, owning it would be more hindrance than
help in our work. Moreover, I can see no advantages for either HIC or the
History Staff in having both part of some other entity.
12. Coordinator for Academic Relations. This is an "outreach" function
to universities, which seems properly placed in Public Affairs. It would
appear foolhardy to associate this function with the History Staff, which has
compelling reasons for not reaching out to provoke or encourage outside
interest--especially from academics--in its classified internal work.
13. Studies in Intelli ence. A case could be made for the History Staff
to publish this professional journal, since Studies publishes a good deal of
historical writing, and since the History Staf as published it in the
past. Yet while it might be useful to have the Chief of the History Staff on
the Board of Studies, I can find no advantages for either Studies or the
History Staff in having both part of some other entity.
14. Center for the Study of Intelligence. The role of CSI seems to be
to encourage an arrange certain types of relatively short-term internal
individual research projects, to sponsor occasional external contract
research, to organize both internal and external conferences, and to publish
Studies in Intelligence. Association with CSI's "outreach" role (as in the
forthcoming conference for university professors teaching intelligence
courses) could jeopardize the History Staff's work, while CSI's internal
training and fellowship programs have virtually nothing in common with our
historical work in purpose, focus, organization or staffing.
15. In light of the disparate--and in some respects incompatible--roles
of the History Staff and these other components, I can find no case for their
consolidation under a new layer of administration. Moreover, for the History
Staff to join CSI in DDA's Office of Training and Education would raise all
the problems we identified in paragraphs 5-9 above, in discussing the vital
importance of our present location.
16. The History Staff can best--and probably only--do its job by
maintaining its independent role in the Office of the Director of Central 25X1
Intelligence.
J. Kenneth McDonald
Attachments
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